I was still digesting what she’d done and my attitude at the time was basically “Good for her. Teens need to hear this from someone they’ll actually listen to.” I mean, this is a message that people I know (who are more than 20 years past being teenagers) still haven’t gotten, so I thought Essena was (finally) setting a good example.

But after reading what a bunch of other people had to say about it, I’m really not sure what to think. The L.A. Times called her a “false revolutionary.” Many people have reacted with a big “Duh!” to the statements that her Instagram pictures were carefully staged, took hours to get perfect, and were often sponsored (but not disclosed). However, I think these people would do well to remember who a lot of her audience was.

Sure, many of her followers were probably middle-aged men. But many were also fellow teens craving the same kind of validation. And a lot of those kids might be taking those perfect Instagram shots at face value. For while it’s easy to discount what she did as calculated (she had a website all ready), it’s a message that hopefully got through to a lot of teen girls.

I would be insanely grateful for a rating and review on iTunes, and thank you so much for listening!! And the rest of the links we talk about are in the podcast are down below (including a few affiliate links). Enjoy!